Joshua C. Gillette is a Partner in HDRB&B’s Litigation and Criminal Defense Departments. He represents businesses, corporate executives, financial services professionals, and high-net-worth individuals in high-stakes commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense, securities enforcement matters, and appeals. A trial and appellate lawyer with more than 30 years of experience, Josh has represented clients in federal and state courts in New York, New Jersey, and around the country, where he handles complex business disputes, government investigations, and parallel civil, criminal, and regulatory proceedings carrying significant legal, financial, and reputational consequences.
Having practiced at, alongside, and opposite leading national firms, Josh draws on decades of experience across a wide range of disputes to protect clients’ interests at every stage of a case. Josh’s ability to make complex positions clear and persuasive has made him a trusted advocate in commercial and criminal matters, as trial counsel in numerous jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations, and as appellate counsel briefing and arguing appeals.
Josh’s business litigation practice encompasses a broad range of disputes including fraud, breach of contract, shareholder disputes, and employment matters. After a multi-week arbitration he secured full recovery and more than $1 million in attorney’s fees against a division of a Fortune 100 corporation. He has also obtained summary judgment holding corporate officers and directors liable for fiduciary breach, and won termination of a contract action against an expert witness after disqualifying opposing counsel.
His white-collar practice includes representing corporations, executives, and individuals in federal and state criminal investigations and prosecutions, internal investigations, and proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Josh also has a distinguished appellate practice, briefing and arguing significant matters before state and federal appellate courts, including State v. Hreha and State v. Dispoto in the New Jersey Supreme Court and Rountree v. Balicki in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Josh is the immediate Past President (2025-26) of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (ACDL-NJ), the state’s principal criminal defense bar association. In that role he led an amicus effort and coordinated defense litigation successfully challenging the appointments of the leadership of the New Jersey United States Attorney’s Office, culminating in disqualification rulings by the trial court and Third Circuit.
Prior to joining HDRB&B, Josh practiced at several prominent law firms, including Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP; Kagen, Caspersen & Bogart PLLC; and Gibbons P.C. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School after graduating cum laude from Columbia University. Following law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ernest C. Torres of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island.